Macrocyclic antagonists of the motilin receptor for treatment of gastrointestinal dysmotility disorders

Abstract

The present invention provides conformationally-defined macrocyclic compounds that bind to and / or are functional modulators of the motilin receptor including subtypes, isoforms and / or variants thereof. These macrocyclic compounds, at a minimum, possess adequate pharmacological properties to be useful as therapeutics for a range of disease indications. In particular, these compounds are useful for treatment and prevention of disorders characterized by hypermotilinemia and / or gastrointestinal hypermotility, including, but not limited to, diarrhea, cancer treatment-related diarrhea, cancer-induced diarrhea, chemotherapy-induced diarrhea, radiation enteritis, radiation-induced diarrhea, stress-induced diarrhea, chronic diarrhea, AIDS-related diarrhea, C. difficile associated diarrhea, traveller's diarrhea, diarrhea induced by graph versus host disease, other types of diarrhea, dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (emesis) and post-operative nausea and vomiting and functional gastrointestinal disorders. In addition, the compounds possess utility for the treatment of diseases and disorders characterized by poor stomach or intestinal absorption, such as short bowel syndrome, celiac disease and cachexia. The compounds also have use for the treatment of inflammatory diseases and disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, such as inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease and pancreatitis. Accordingly, methods of treating such disorders and pharmaceutical compositions including compounds of the present invention are also provided.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 825,237, filed Sep. 11, 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to novel conformationally-defined macrocyclic compounds that bind to and / or are functional modulators of the motilin receptor including subtypes, isoforms and / or variants thereof. These macrocyclic compounds possess appropriate pharmacological properties to be useful as therapeutics for a range of disease indications. In particular, these compounds are useful for treatment and prevention of disorders characterized by hypermotilenemia or gastrointestinal hypermotility, including; but not limited to diarrhea, cancer treatment-related diarrhea, cancer-induced diarrhea, chemotherapy-induced diarrhea, radiation enteritis, radiation-induced diarrhea, stress-induced diarrhea, chronic diarrhea, AIDS-related ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0071]The foregoing and other aspects of the present invention are explained in greater detail in the specification set forth below.

Problems solved by technology

However, use of erythromycin therapy can be associated with nausea, diarrhea, cramping and abdominal pain and, further, must be limited in duration to avoid development of bacterial resistance.

Current treatments for these conditions are ineffective in many cases.

Loperamide, an opioid agonist, is useful for milder diarrhea and generally does not work in a high percentage of patients.

Octreotide, a somatostatin agonist, is used off-label as a diarrheal treatment, but is relatively expensive, given by injection, and also not effective in many instances.

This presents a significant problem as, in 2001, over 1.4 million individuals in the U.S. were undergoing cancer chemotherapy.

No effective therapy exists for this damage nor for the associated diarrhea.

In approximately 20% of patients, the adverse effects are so severe, it requires a halt to or reduction of the treatment regimen and, often, hospitalization.

In addition, parenteral nutrition often must be taken due to the inability of patients to take nourishment normally.

Indeed, a review of clinical trials in colorectal cancer revealed higher death rates primarily due to gastrointestinal toxicity.

Current pharmacological treatments only work in some patients and are much less effective against the more serious grades of diarrhea.

Characterized by abdominal cramping and diarrhea, this is a serious and feared side effect that results in increased overall treatment time as well as reduced quality of life and can even result in death.

In addition to discomfort, this side effect decreases the therapeutic benefit from radiation treatment by increasing the overall treatment time.

For example, chronic diarrhea is a common problem for patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection, especially those with advanced disease.

Additionally, psychological factors, such as stress, are known to play a role in adversely affecting the proper functioning of the GI tract.

Apart from the disruption to business, travel and vacation schedules, this condition is often accompanied by other clinical manifestations such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fecal urgency, bloody stools, and fever.

Clostridium difficile is the etiological agent responsible for about one-third of cases of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and is estimated to cause a $1 billion annual cost in the U.S. Antibiotic-associated diarrhea is more common in the hospital setting with up to 29% of patients developing the condition, resulting in increased length of stay, increased cost of care, and increased mortality.

GVHD is a common, potentially life-threatening complication of allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Gastrointestinal GVHD frequently involves the colon and complicates management of these seriously ill patients.

The total annual cost attributable to IBS is estimated to be $30 billion, including $10 billion in direct costs from physician visits and prescription pharmaceuticals, as well as a significant cost from missed work days.

Antispasmodics, tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, laxatives, antidiarrheals, and bulking agents have not proven to be widely effective and tend to treat symptoms, rather than underlying pathophysiology.

In addition to a significant deterioration in quality of life, this condition often requires modification or delay of chemotherapeutic regimens with concomitant negative impact on the effectiveness of treatment.

PONV can lead to unintended or extended hospitalization, electrolyte abnormalities and strain on surgical sutures, plus a substantial negative effect on quality of life.

As such, it increases health care costs and decreases patient satisfaction.

The mucosal damage and subsequent malabsorption of nutrients can lead to numerous complications.

The syndrome is particularly distressing in children, where mortality and morbidity are very high.

Additionally, this condition has been shown to be a strong independent risk factor for mortality.

Likewise, patients suffering from chronic heart failure are at serious risk from a similar wasting syndrome.

These peptidic antagonists suffer from the known limitations of peptides as drug molecules, in particular poor oral bioavailability and degradative metabolism.

However, these parameters have not been widely explored or reported within the macrocyclic structural class.

This creates tremendous challenges in drug development for such molecules.

WO 99 / 21846; WO 01 / 68620; WO 01 / 68621; WO 01 / 68622; WO 01 / 85694) Of these, RWJ-68023 has been examined in humans, but with a poor outcome, likely due to the level of potency of this molecule.

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